46 Defense - Description

Description

To stop a passing game, you can't stop it unless you put pressure on it. Now some people are good enough to put it on with a three-man rush; well, we're not. In fact, I don't know whether we're good enough to put it on with a four-man rush. If we have to send eight, we'll send eight, but we're not going to let you sit back there and pick us apart all day. — Buddy Ryan, 1986 NFL Films interview I had to use every bit of knowledge and experience and wisdom I had to come up with game plans to attack this defense. It's really the most singular innovation in defensive football in the last twenty years. — Bill Walsh, ESPN interview

The 46 defense was an innovative defense with a unique defensive front, designed to confuse and put pressure on the opposing offense, especially their quarterback. A hyper-aggressive variant of the 4-3 base set, the 46 dramatically shifted the defensive line to the weak side (the opposite end from the offense's tight end), with both guards and the center "covered" by the left defensive end and both defensive tackles. This front forced offenses to immediately account for the defenders lined up directly in front of them, making it considerably harder to execute blocking assignments such as pulling, trapping and pass protection in general. Moreover, the weak side defensive end would be aligned one to two yards outside the left offensive tackle, leaving opposing tackle 'on an island' when trying to block the pass rush.

Another key feature of the 46 is that both outside linebackers tend to play on the strong side of the formation. To avoid confusion, the strong and weak side linebackers (who are no longer lined up on opposite sides) are often renamed the 'Jack' and 'Charley' linebackers, respectively. The linebackers line up behind the linemen somewhere between one and three yards from the line of scrimmage. The primary tactic is to rush between five and eight players on each play, either to get to the quarterback quickly or disrupt running plays, although dropping some players back into pass coverage after seemingly indicating that they will blitz (see zone blitzing) is another method of creating confusion. Ryan would use all of these rushers to out-man and overwhelm the offense. Another major key to the 46 is the ability of the cornerbacks to play man-free and bump-and-run coverage. Bump-and-run can allow the defense to take away the quarterback's immediate decision-making ability, by disrupting the timing of short routes needed to make a quick throw to beat the 46 defense.

The formation was very effective in the 1980s NFL because it often negated a team's running game and forced them to throw the ball. This was difficult for many teams at the time because most offensive passing games centered around the play-action pass, a situation that often favored the defense even further with the quarterback lined up to receive the snap from directly behind the center.

Currently, the 46 is rarely used in professional and college football (with the exception of teams led by Buddy's sons, the New York Jets coached by Rex Ryan, and the 2010 Cleveland Browns when Rob Ryan was the defensive coordinator). This is largely because of the popularity of the West Coast Offense, used successfully by San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh, and other offensive schemes that rely on short, timed passes from formations with multiple receivers.

A minor weakness of the 46 defense can be too many defensive players lining up near the line of scrimmage to blitz, leaving areas open for receivers to catch passes. Also, short, timed passes can be thrown before the players blitzing have a chance to reach the quarterback. Another problem is that most teams do not have enough impact players to run the 46 as effectively as the 1980s Bears, the late 1980s Eagles and the 1993 Oilers did. Those teams fielded some of the best front-seven defenses ever, and included such players as Mike Singletary, Steve McMichael, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, Clyde Simmons, and Wilber Marshall.

The ideas of the 46 defense are more often used in today's game by bringing a fourth defensive back (usually the strong safety) up closer to the line of scrimmage, as an eighth man in "the box" to help stop the run. Defenses today may also run safety blitzes and corner blitzes at crucial moments without committing wholly to the "46" defense. Up front, teams still use the concept of the "T-N-T" front, where defensive linemen are lined up over the center and the two guards. This makes it difficult for the interior linemen to reach any of the linebackers on the second level.